1. Field of the Invention
Bathrooms can often have a noticeable unpleasant odor. This can be embarrassing when company is visiting and using the facilities. Many bathroom users become embarrassed of the odor left behind upon exiting the bathroom. These unwanted smells could also permeate an entire home.
The present invention relates in general to a toilet deodorizing system and more particularly to a new automatically-activated scent delivery device integrated to the toilet seat for distributing air freshener in several different directions and thus improving on the unpleasant odors that may currently exist. This item is ideal for public or private restrooms.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Bathroom deodorizers are very well known in the art. Many attempts have been made to control the odor that is commonly found in a bathroom containing a standard toilet as such odors are offensive and embarrassing. Most commonly, various spraying devices have been used in the air surrounding the toilet. One prior art method teaches manually spraying the toilet area with an aerosol deodorant spray before and/or after use of the toilet. Even though this method is effective for masking the odor, it is not very practical for public bathrooms, since there is a natural reluctance to touch things in public restrooms including the toilet seat, faucets, etc. Moreover, this spraying method of controlling odors cannot be applied at the source of the odor, a toilet bowl, while the toilet was in use. Additionally, a user is exposed to the chemicals composing the aerosol deodorant, and for that reason many users do not use these types of aerosol deodorant sprays.
It is also possible to reduce the unpleasant odors by exhausting the foul smelling air out of the building by means of an exhaust fan and associated ductwork. This method requires expensive installation, generates considerable noise when in operation, requires the toggling of an on-off switch for operation, and is not available in older houses or in all bathrooms in many newer houses and offices. Exhausting the air requires a fan using electric power during its operation. Normally neither the fan shutters nor exhaust ducts are insulated, and there is a small amount of air leakage through the shutters, all of which constitute additional energy loss. So this odor handling method is both inconvenient and uses excessive energy for its operation.
Another known solution involves filtering escaping odor directly from within the bowl requiring complex external fans, ductwork, and power systems. Additionally, venting of the toilet bowl before the odor escaped often required modification of the standard toilet and the placement of unsightly and possibly unsanitary ductwork into the toilet bowl. In addition to being expensive these systems are difficult to install and maintain.
Other less complicated deodorant delivery systems involves slowly dissolving scented solids placed in a toilet water reservoir adding perfume to water used for flushing as a means of neutralizing bathroom odor. Most of this treated water is lost during flushing. The small amount of treated water remaining in the toilet bowl is diluted considerably by untreated water added to bring the water level up to the proper height during a reservoir refilling cycle. As a result, the small amount of perfumed water remaining in the toilet bowl is insufficient to adequately cover either odor in the water or odor escaping into the air during a bowel movement. Another additional means of odor control is therefore required for complete control of bathroom odor. This is an inefficient, inadequate and expensive means of odor control. The same method has the alternative of using the scented solids inside a plastic aerosol including a hook capable of being fastened and positioned against the inside of the toilet bowl, under the rim. Thus, the aerosol catches water flow every time the user flashes the toilet, dispensing the product in the bowl and delivering a scent to the air. This method is effective to keep the toilet bowl clean and somewhat scented and fresh, but ineffective for masking the odor usually present in the bathroom air.
Another know method involves the natural evaporation of solid perfumes that produce an unnecessary constant background scent and require frequent replacement if the evaporation rate is set high enough to adequately cover the odor. This requires the frequent replacement of the perfumed material and sometimes an unneeded scent of other rooms and corridors when the bathroom door is left open.
Another way of removing unpleasant odors from a room is the conventional method of bathroom ventilation involving the removal of bathroom odors after the odors departure from the toilet bowl and dispersion in the ambient air. Modern bathrooms tend to be small windowless rooms with tiny, inadequate exhaust fans mounted in the ceiling with ducting leading to the outdoor air. Upon activation, said systems attempts to draw odorous air out of the bathroom. Because the odor is removed after its dispersion from the toilet, said systems require lengthy operation time to ventilate the entire bathroom area and are thus are often ineffective in removing the odor.
Because of the poor results obtained with said ceiling exhaust fans, the development of ventilating means which draws the unwanted gases and odors directly from the toilet bowls before the odors can disperse into the surrounding air has been encouraged. These systems can expel the odorous air into an air filtration unit or to the outdoors through a ventilation duct. Even though good results may be obtained, its installation and maintenance are extremely expensive.
Many of these toilet ventilation systems are technically complex and relatively high cost to manufacture, requiring a whole new toilet installation. Therefore they do not represent an easy-mounting solution, compatible with the existing toilet configurations.
Moreover, many of the toilet ventilation systems require a dedicated wall ventilation duct near the toilet. As many bathrooms do not have such an available duct, this type of ventilated toilet installation would require expensive structural modification of the building to provide for the ventilation conduits.
Another drawback of these ventilated solutions use weak electrically operated fans that cannot possibly move enough air on a regular basis to effectively perform the job of removing odors from the bowl before they spread into the bathroom.
Other designs incorporate air duct passageways that are far too small to move enough air to make the units effective. With these tiny passageways, the only way to move enough air involves unacceptable obnoxious noise coming from powerful fan units.
Many of the ventilation units known involve also bulky components that are visible to a person using the toilet, which detracts from the overall appearance of the bathroom.
Many prior art designs use devices that present cleaning and odor problems that is inherent when the units mount on or adjacent to the toilet since these designs use ductwork passages that are exposed to the toilet bowl and can easily become contaminated. Keeping these toilet area parts clean can be a challenge, considering the normal toilet bowl environment. Since they can be very hard to clean, infectious waste can collect there and can then produce more odor to the bathroom environment than the system is trying to eliminate.
In general, none of the existing ventilation systems for removing odors directly at the toilet have been commercially successful. There is a set of drawbacks related to its installation, function and maintenance that turn them inappropriate.
Therefore, known dispensers for products and known ventilation processes tend to be ineffective, complicated, messy, and limited. Notwithstanding the potential of these prior art attempts to solve the bathroom odor problem, an adequate and effective solution is still pending.
Accordingly there exists a need for an improved toilet deodorizer device integral with the toilet seat and designed specifically to facilitate the dispensing of the deodorizer into and outside of the toilet bowl in a clean and effective manner capable of effectively masking those odors when desired by the user.